Blog Visitors' CommentsCondo Search's comment..
I just drop by to say "thank you" for your excellent blog, and safe me from committing at a high price and wrong time buying. It helps me a small property hunter(with hard earning money) and others(i believed)a better inform. Thank you again...

Young Buyer's comment...
I've just graduated and started working, and I hope to own a residential property in Singapore after 2010/2011. So I'm starting to do my Singapore property research now. I have never come across such a comprehensive coverage on the Singapore property market, and I thank you for enlightening readers like me who want to know more :) Keep up the good work!

Young Expat's comment...
i am an overseas expat who moved to singapore a year ago and started looking out recently for property to buy as rentals started to rise all around me..i was advised to follow ur forum and since then have been impressed with all the wonderful tips exchanged in this portal..thanks to all the contributors.(Smart Buyer, the blogger here, would like to say many thanks to all these unsung heroes too)

Red's comment...
I think your reply give a rational explanation on my question. You are indeed a smart buyer and very knowledgeable.

Kate's comment...
This is a great blog filled with latest news, historical insights and good opinions that gives direction. Not the sitting on the fence type of 'pc' opinions. I love this blog. Please keep up the good work! You are really doing Singaporeans a big favour! Thank you!! I will keep on reading.

Phantasia's comment ...
Hi smart buyer,
Just wanna say thanks for your response to my query earlier in another post. And also for the very informative blog! Have learnt much from your postings! Thanks for sharing.

Smart Buyers, 10 reasons to waitFear that property price will go up forever? Here are 10 reasons to consider before you make that big commitment.......Posted by Smart Buyer(This post contains the 10 reasons that Smart Buyer first wrote for himself in mid 2007 when the property market was in a runaway euphoria, which he subsequently posted on this blog for all property buyers to consider. The arguments are supported by official data and illustrated with property supply and property price index graphs.)

Bad investments are made in Good Times
Looking at the subprime problem, it is definitely a bad news that will take time to filter down. The falling US$ is another problem that will hit the US economy. China and HK property and share mkt are 2 big bubbles.. Beware !!...Posted by km(This post contains km's first-person account of the 1998's property market crash and all the troubles that came with it - soaring mortgage rate, vacant properties with no available tenants, banks pressing for top-ups as property valuation dropped, ... his story has a happy ending of course. He'd share with you openly the lessons learnt.)

Solvency Worries STALK CREDIT-DERIVATIVES MARKET. They are now talking of SOLVENCY, not just LIQUIDITY issue .......it's really quite serious now....Posted by AnonymousHaving a house which has a big loan is a liability at this global trouble time.So far the market is still moving down slow due to the reason that many of the countries are injecting funds to buy part of the share of the banking market. The negative news continues to rise. The money is better leave in CPF and local banks to grow interests....Posted by Anonymous

During the 1995 -1998 period, the same scenerio arise..Many people cant get the HDB flat. There was the ballot system and it is just like "ti-kam", 1 out of 8 can get to buy. Due to this flocked system, many people, including those who are not so keen buyer also join the Q, paying $10 as a ballot fee, when they get balloted, then ......Posted by Anonymous

This market is definitely driven by greed and liquidity.I have never seen anything like it in my lifetime. Property prices goes up as fast a the stock market. This market is definitely driven by greed and liquidity in the asian market. What goes up must come down!...Posted by rob-502

Your Property Investment Decides Your Financial SuccessYour Property Investment may be the sole determinant of your financial success in life. One wrong move,......Posted by Smart Buyer (This post contains Smart Buyer's first-person account of the 1990's boom and bust, and how investment opportunities presented themselves in the market crash of 1998 and 2006.)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Singapore's economy will probably contract further and more retrenchments can be expected in the next few months as companies are forced to downsized, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his New Year message on Wednesday.

Mr Lee said the economic outlook is highly uncertain. At each stage of this crisis, events have turned out worse than the experts predicted.

Governments everywhere have been implementing monetary and fiscal measures, rescuing troubled financial institutions and key corporations and pumping money into the economy. But no one is sure how the financial systems and economies will respond, or which policies will work.

'There is a loss of business and consumer confidence and, hence, one thing is certain: things cannot turn around overnight. Quite likely the global recession will be followed not by a quick rebound, but by several more years of slow growth,' Mr Lee said.

'We must therefore prepare for a difficult year ahead, and especially the first half of 2009. Our economy will probably contract further. More companies will be forced to downsize. So far we have not seen many job losses, but I expect more retrenchments in the next few months. We must be psychologically prepared,' he added.

In response to this economic crisis, Mr Lee said Singapore government's key focus is jobs - keeping people in jobs, helping workers who lose jobs find new ones, and retraining them with new skills.

Apart from lowering corporate taxes in 2008, two initiatives have also been implemented. One is the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) which helps businesses pay for their staff training. More than 120 companies have come on board, which together will train more than 4,200 workers.

The second initiative is enhancing the government financing programmes for companies to ensure that basically sound firms, especially the smaller ones, can still obtain financing despite the tight credit climate, and so keep their operations going.

The government has also recently reduced interest rates and increased insurance premium subsidies under the schemes. These measures will benefit some 13,500 existing loans worth $550 million (US$381 million) and an estimated $3 billion in new loans.

1 comments:

More home buyers have flocked to the town, which used to conjure up images of sprawling factories and sleepy suburbia, because of the Jurong Lake District masterplan which intends to transform the town into a vibrant place. -- ST FILE PHOTO View more photosHOUSING Board flats in Jurong West saw significant price rises last year.A study by property firm ERA has found resale prices of Housing Board flats there appreciated faster than those in other suburban towns such as Tampines and Woodlands.

More home seekers have flocked to Jurong West because of the Government's Jurong Lake District masterplan which involves a major upgrade to the area.

The ERA study compared the median prices of resale flats in the first quarter and the fourth quarter of last year.

It showed that the median three-room resale flat prices in Jurong West rose by 19.4 per cent or $34,000 last year, compared with 12.3 per cent in Tampines and 15.7 per cent in Woodlands.

Four-room flat prices rose by 14.1 per cent, above the 8.6 per cent rise in Tampines and 12 per cent rise in Woodlands.

Prices of five-room flats rose the least, at 9.4 per cent, similar to Woodlands but still way above the modest 1.3 per cent rise in Tampines.

The bigger executive flats may be less popular these days, but in Jurong West last year, resale prices rose by 16 per cent, compared with 4.9 per cent in Tampines and 6.2 per cent in Woodlands.

The town, which used to conjure up unappealing images of sprawling factories and sleepy suburbia, is to be transformed into a vibrant place to live, work and play over the next 10 to 15 years.

The plan for Jurong Lake District includes turning the area around Jurong East MRT station into a commercial hub.

Prices of resale flats in Jurong East are generally higher than in Jurong West.

In a separate statement yesterday, property developer Frasers Centrepoint Homes said that it was launching a 712-unit condo near Lakeside MRT station called Caspian.

ERA and another property agency PropNex are marketing the 99-year leasehold condo, which is targeted at HDB upgraders.

It is located within the Jurong Lake District and will be the largest launch so far this year.

Developers generally did not want to launch their projects ahead of the Jan 22 Budget and the Chinese New Year celebrations, given the already poor sentiment.

Still, Frasers Centrepoint had been aiming to launch Caspian after Chinese New Year.

Sales start today with a staff preview. The public preview starts on Saturday, with 250 units available at an average price of $580 per sq ft.

A typical two- to four-bedroom plus study unit can cost between $540 psf and $640 psf.

The chief operating officer of Frasers Centrepoint Homes, Mr Cheang Kok Kheong, said in the statement that feedback and analysis of their pre-sales surveys had confirmed pent-up demand.

'We have received strong interest from prospective owner-occupiers and even investors, who are now more keen to invest in brick-and-mortar property than risky financial instruments, especially if the property has a great potential upside to it.'

Another mass-market condo near Lakeside MRT station is The Lakeshore, which had seen the values of its units rise substantially since its 2003 launch and is reportedly selling at around $750 psf.

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The blogger here has been affectionately named by close allies as "Smart Buyer" but really, he's not smart. Smart Buyer just believes that being prudent is smart. That's the essence of the message of this blog and Smart Buyer hopes it'll benefit other property buyers.